Writer Janet Mullany is from England, drinks a lot of tea, and likes Jane Austen, reading, and gasping in shock at costumes in historical TV dramas. Her household near Washington DC includes a badly-behaved cat about whom she frequently boasts.
PBS
World on Fire’s Season 2 mid-point picks up in Libya, where Harry rejoins his regiment. The Seige of Tobruk is getting dire, with control of Alexandria and Suez and supply routes to Britain at stake, and Churchill himself has ordered that positions must be held. Captain Briggs orders
BritBox
This England, with all six episodes arriving on BritBox to kick off November 2023, is a bit of a trainwreck, just like Boris Johnson’s government which failed the English people so badly in the COVID-19 crisis of 2020. You have to wonder why co-director/co-writer Michael
PBS
We return to World on Fire as the war in North Africa rages. A wounded Harry is sent to the hospital in Cairo while Stan joins Rajib and his men in retreat. It’s an awkward situation, as the British army practices an “equal but different” policy, leaving Stan uncomfortable
PBS
World on Fire Season 2's second episode opens with Harry arriving in the North African desert, where he’s greeted by his sergeant Stan Raddick, and the two of them resume their sarcastic banter. Harry is introduced to Rajib — “Same rank as you, but more convincing” — as Stan
PBS
Season 2 of World on Fire doesn’t spend any time in recapping Season 1 or bridging the gap of the last three and a half years away, throwing us straight into 1941 and bombing attacks on Manchester. Lois (Julia Brown) and Connie (Yrsa Daley-Ward), once a double musical
PBS
Van der Valk’s big, messy, magical mystery tour’s second half moves its action to the nightclub owned by Hans Lansing, where Citra and Hendrik are doing shots, and quite honestly, it doesn’t seem the best way to solve a case. Lucienne, who discovered suspect Isaak Engelhart has
Actors and Actresses
Nicola Walker was born in 1970 in Stepney, East London, England, and began acting classes at the age of 12, in her own words, to meet boys. Both her parents were teachers, but she was the first in the family to attend university, the prestigious New College, Cambridge. She joined
PBS
Van der Valk's final case of the season begins in an ancient castle outside of the city, where a magic ritual takes place. Psychiatrist Nik Delacorte (Joris Smit) and brain surgeon Isaak Engelhart (Steven Pacey) set spells to summon a demon. Downstairs, their followers link hands in a
Actors and Actresses
Michael Gambon, born into a working-class family in Cabra, a suburb of Dublin, did not seem destined for an acting career. He left school at 15 to become an apprentice with an engineering company. His first contact with the theater was when his father, a communist sympathizer, told him
PBS
Part 2 of Van der Valk’s second episode picks up directly after the death of Jan Kappel, Van der Valk’s former mentor and Julia’s former lover. Both are clearly shaken; even Hendrik lacks his usual ebullience as he studies the body. Julia tells Van der Valk she
PBS
It’s been three and a half years since Season 1 of World on Fire aired, despite Season 2 being greenlit before the PBS premiere, as filming on two continents during a pandemic proved impossible. With a large cast and a storyline that encompassed the confusion, pain, and horror of
PBS
“Redemption in Amsterdam,” Van der Valk’s second case for Season 3, deals with the past and how it impacts the present. A horrific case from 20 years ago still haunts our titular detective, and even though the murderer confessed and has paid the price for her crime, questions remain.